The Terminal Post Newsletter of the Positive Earth Driver’s Club “It’s not just a Club, it’s an attitude” Curing Cabin Fever Volume 19, Issue 4 April 2011 By Jon Spare Inside this issue: pring is finally here, and the long, cold, and excessively snowy winter is over! WOO HOO! For me, this was the most anticipated spring that I can remember. Having said that, I’m beginning to question my memory as I struggle to recall what I had for breakfast this morning. This failing on my part March Meeting 2 S Minutes should not detract from the significance of this particular spring. I do remember all the snow we received, although I was out of town for every single snow storm this winter; lucky for me, not so for my wife, Cheryl. My TR7V8 was stuck in the garage from mid-December until February 26th. In our area, there are From the Driver’s 3 Seat usually quite a few nice days throughout the winter that are conducive to driving our highly prized posses- sions. Not so, for this winter. I had to wait not only for all that dreaded snow to melt, but for a good rain to From the Navigator’s 3 wash off all the salt. Seat Rescue Me 8 PEDC Regalia, Price 8 List & Sale Items 2011 Show/Event 9 Schedule Calendar, PEDC 10 Schedule of Events Classified Ads 11 Officers 12 My TR7V8 picturesquely positioned by the historic Pine Creek Railroad in Allaire State Park. That’s PEDC Member Jim LuBrant’s MGB is in the background. February 26th was that day, being beautiful and sunny and more importantly, having dry, clean roads. That morning, I removed the cover, opened the garage door and proceeded to fire her up. I switched the key Drive ‘em! to “on,” stepped on the pedal once and twisted the key to start. The engine cranked…and cranked but did not ignite. I gave it more gas and continued my starting efforts. Still nothing. Continued on page 5 Positive Earth Drivers’ Club Volume 19, Issue 4 Page 2 Minutes of the PEDC General Meeting (March 2, 2011) Submitted by Secretary Wayne Simpson The meeting was called to order at 7:40 PM with 31 members in attendance. Treasurer’s Report Treasurer Peter Richardson reports a balance of $3242.30. This does not reflect a bill of $350 for the Club insurance policy received to- night. Current Paid membership stands at 73 with the end of the renewal period rapidly approaching. We ended the year with 113 paid members. Old Business None recorded, unless you want to count our lack of a decision as to when to hold the proposed gathering at the Pine Creek Railroad at Allaire State Park. New Business Shore Antiques, April 17 British Invasion: Rose O’Connor Myer of Shore Antiques was to be with us tonight, but could not attend. Suf- fice it to say that this year’s event will be similar to last year’s, with the addition of a BBQ and beer garden hosted by the Volunteer Fire Company. Event begins at 12:00 noon. Rain date is April 24. Ken Kyle reports he and Carol will host an impromptu dinner at St Stephen’s Publick House in Spring Lake on March 10th. He also reported on the planned drive and tour of the Simeone Museum in Philly on March 26th. Further details will go out by global e-mail. Ernie Caponegro reported on the planned April 23 drive to Renault Winery. He says weekend golf/room/dinner packages are available for those interested in that. Bob Canfield tells us he’d like to host a drive to the Edison Museum in West Orange. The tentative date is June 26. Altha Morton tells us she’d like to host a drive to the Laurita Winery in New Egypt. Tentative date is Aug. 13. The final Ice Cream Run will be Thursday, Sept 15th. Not sure who is hosting that. Shows: Cedarville Winery, Logan Twp, May 7. 16th Annual British Car Show, Lewes, DE, May 7. UPS United Way Car and Bike Show, Trenton, June 5. Hellertown, June 12. Our own Father’s Day Show in Spring Lake, June 19. BMCSNJ annual show at NJ Motorosports Park, Oct 1. The meeting was adjourned at 8:20. Fold → Volume 19, Issue 4 Page 3 From the Driver’s Seat... Rodney Ford, President his month, there is more news from the British motor industry, good and bad. The bad news, Bristol Cars has been placed in administration, which T is the equivalent to bankruptcy. Bristol Aeroplane Company produced several highly effective aircraft during WWII. As part of reparations after the war, Bristol received from Germany, the tooling for the BMW 328 and began manufacturing cars in 1946. Bristol has been called the “Gentleman’s Express.” They have not advertised or released production numbers. The media was not allowed to road test any vehicles. The product line consisted of two models sold through a single showroom on Kensington High Street in West London. Every vehicle was built to order. The Blenheim, was a classic appearing but modern 2+2 coupe. If you watched “Inspector Lynley” on Masterpiece Theater, you saw the Blenheim driven by the main character. The other model was called the Fighter T. A super car second to none! Power came from twin turbo charged Dodge Viper V-10 estimated at well over 1000 HP. Alas, another storied British marque is gone. There is good news however, Lotus has announced 6 new models. Spyker Cars of Holland is moving production of their supercar to Coventry. The more significant news comes from MG. They have been building small batches of the mid engine MG TF for the last three years. That production will increase and a new four door hatchback, the MG 6 will be released shortly. “Power came from twin turbo charged Dodge Viper V-10 estimated at well A Bristol Fighter T, a unique super car that pumps out gobs of horsepower over 1000 HP.” Who are the largest automobile manufacturers in England? Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The largest British based marque? It might just be the London Taxi Company of Coventry! Yes, they really do build in England and have done so for 60 years. Other contenders include Morgan (of course), Mclaren, Noble, Cater- ham, Westfield, Ariel, Ginnetta and Ascari. Fans of Top Gear will recognize the names. Bentley, Rolls, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini, all foreign owned. Aston Martin ownership is multi- national. Don’t count AC Cars as they are now being made in Germany. What about TVR? There is a report that an un-named entity is hoping to resurrect the company. This new MG 6, a four-door hatchback will soon hit the roads A London Taxi built in Coventry, but where was this picture taken? Clue: look at the license plate A Caterham sports car parked on the streets of London, England From the Navigator’s Seat... Page 4 Mike Browne, Vice President ince our club is made up members who have cars of all different Brit- S ish marques, I know a lot of us belong to organizations specifically for our particular marque and sometimes attend events that are marque spe- cific. There has been this mini event in Florida that’s been held in February for the last 15 years, and I have always wanted to attend. When I was working, I simply didn't have that time off in or- “...You could der to go. Now, since Linda and I are retired, the possibility of attending this always tell when event in February is possible. However, for the past four years or so, something has always come up to prevent us from going. This someone missed a year, we went to it. The Spring Thing (as the mini event is called) is usually held the 3rd or 4th weekend in February. We thought we could incorporate this event into a month long visit to the Sun- question and had shine State. We packed up our motorhome, hooked my trailer on the back of it, and put the green mini on the trailer...and on February 14th...OFF WE WENT ON OUR GREAT to turn around to ADVENTURE!! It took us two days to get down to Cocoa Beach where the event was held. We stayed there for a little over a week at Jetty Park campground. It’s right across a get the answer .” channel from Cape Canaveral. The weather was great. It was sunny and the temps ranged from 72 to 78 degrees. We relaxed and saw the local sites for the first few days. Then on Friday, the 18th, registration was at the International Palms Resort from 3:30 to 6:30. There was a short "meet and greet" at the resort. About 80 classic minis were in atten- dance. From there, most of the classic minis lined up to drive to "Fish Lips," a water- front bar/restaurant. It was quite a sight to see that many minis park at a restaurant's park- ing lot! There, we mingled and met the other mini owners and enjoyed a good seafood meal. On the next morning, there was a swap meet in the resort parking lot from 8am till 10:30 or so. Lots of new and used parts for minis were available for purchase. Then at 10:30, a drivers meeting was held in preparation for the Rally which was to follow. Eighty minis lined up, were handed their instructions/directions sheets...and off we went.